Losing Holiday Weight

Vionna Jones, owner of Fit in DC, recorded a series of videos to help with those extra calories we all accumulate over the holidays. The holidays start with Halloween, she says, and all the candy and chocolate that derives from trick-or-treating. Those extra calories continue at Thanksgiving, a whole holidays that’s constructed around over-eating. And then there are the Christmas parties, the end-of year parties, and

the New Year’s parties, all of which contribute to gaining weight. How can you keep from destroying and progress that you make toward your health and fitness goals the rest of the year when that happens?

Keep moving

Jones suggests that if you keep working out and burning calories throughout the holiday season, then you won’t have to gain extra weight and go on a crash diet in January. She begins by talking about some of the myths surrounding how to burn calories; she talks about the importance of warming up before a working (and stretching/cooling down after one) and she shows a calorie-burning circuit consisting of five exercises guaranteed to help you keep those extra pounds off.

Equipment

What you’ll need: one set of free-weights or dumbbells, either five or eight pounds. You will also need a mat and a stability ball. Make sure that you consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program, because they’re not all for everyone; make sure that there are no past or recent injuries or other health concerns that you might have before starting.

The circuit

The workout circuit comprises five exercises: the squat (either body weight squat or push press), upright rows, non-climbers, push-ups, and pass-the-ball. Each one of these exercises is one station on the overall circuit, and you’re going to spend one minute on each station as you go around the circuit. The key to burning calories here is to not take any breaks between each station on your circuit. You need to be running it continuously. That will keep your heart-rate up, which is how you become fit and how you burn calories.

Take a break

After you’ve gone through the circuit once (and have been exercising for five minutes without stopping) you will take a one-minute break. Be sure to have a timer so that you know how long you’re spending on each station and how long you can take the break. Use the break to breathe deeply and hydrate. Then start the circuit again. You’re going to go through the circuit a total of five times, taking a one-minute break at the end of the circuit each time.

This particular circuit is going to challenge nearly all of the muscles in your body in one way or another. It will help you strengthen, stretch, build muscle and burn calories. If you do this circuit every other day throughout the holidays, you have nothing to fear.

You’ll spend about 18 minutes exercising at this level. You don’t want to rush through it, because each station should take one minute exactly, and the minute you spend resting between circuits is essential as well. After you’ve completed the circuit, you’ll want to stretch and cool down.